Television transmitting apparatus



Aug. 18, 1953 J. E. COPE TELEVISION TRANSMITTING APPARATUS Filed Nov.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AJ 41L 1 F I I nvenlor Attorneys Patented Aug. 18, 1953 TELEVISION TRANSMTTTING APPARATUS f'Jolin E. Cope, Cambridge, England, assignor to Pye Limited, Cambridge, -:England, at-British company Application November 23,1949, Serial No; 129,009 InGreat Britain November 24,1948

5 Claims. i The pick-up tube of a television camera, such as an iconoscope or' r-image-iconoscope, has its output electrode connected to a load resistance, the voltage variationsacross which arefed 'to an amplifier, generally a pore-amplifier incorporated inLthe camera, which in turn feeds'a main amplifier. This load resistance must have a 'high value, for example of the order of l to 2 megohms, so that a high signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained. Since'this load resistance is shunted bra-capacitance constituted by the capacity of the .backing'plate of the mosaic or target surface of the pick-up tube to ground, wiring capacitance to'g'round, and amplifier input capacitance, this input circuit tothainplifier integrates the signal received from the pick-up tube and compensating networks have consequently to be provided in the-subsequent amplifier channel in order that the output signal from the 1 1 main amplifier may have a substantially uniform frequency response characteristic. This com pensating network normally comprises a dif ferentiating circuit in the main amplifier. Unless this frequency compensation iscorrectly carried out, the well-known streaking effect is produced on the reproduced picture.

In practice it -has been found that the compensating network'requires repeated adjustment in order toobtain a substantiallyuniform re- -.sponse over-the range of frequencies involved,

and when televising moving' scenes with widely changing light levels it has provedimpractical for the operator to keep the manual compensa tion control accurately adjusted to" prevent streaking.

I have now discovered that the reason why the .-characteristics of the compensating network appear to go out of adjustment quickly is due to the fact that the output impedance of the pick- 1 up tube depends upon the average illumination of the tube and a component depending on the value of the scanning beam current. For example, in the case of a pick-up tube of the imag'e iconOscope type in which the scene to be jtelevised illuminates a photo-cathodewhich re- "l'l'e'ases' 'electrons'which bombard corresponding xpointsof a mosaic or target'sur'face which'is also "bombarded with the scanning electron beam, it

has been found that the tube has a variable impedance componentvarying between 4 and 20 megohms depending upon the average photocathode illumination, and a component depending'upon'the value of the scanning beam current,

' this component being approximately -8- megohms for normal operation. This-variation in ohmic tube impedance whichexistsacross the "load resistor---changes the time constant or frequency response characteristic of the amplifier input -circuit and makes it necessary to effect'corre- --sponding rte-adjustment ofthe "compensating "network in the amplifier if -streaking-'is to be avoided.

r The present invention has for its object to provide a television'camera or-transm-ittingapparatus which overcomes these difliculties and which automaticallycompensates; orsubs-tantially compensates, for variations in-the-:"impedance of the pick-uptubewhich-occur'during the 'transmissionof a television programme by'reason of the fact'thatthe average illumination of-the pick-up tube changes with -changingscenes or trode connected to a' load resistor, thevoltage even during the transmission of thesame scene.

To this end; thepresent"invention consists in atelevision --camera or transmitting apparatus comprising a pick-up tube having its output-elecvariations across-which arev fed toan-amp-lifier,

' -and wherein means are providedfor automatically compensating, or substantially compensat- 1 --ing,- forvariations in-the --frequency-response characteristic of the circuit independence upon r the variations of the impedance of'thepick-up tube.

This result is achieved according to-afeature of the invention by employingrnegative feedback in theamplifier with such a high-feedback ratio "that'variations in the impedance of the pick-up tube producenegligiblechange in the time constant'o'f the amplifier input circuit. The negative feedback arrangement must avoid self-oscillation at low frequencies; and to this end; accordsing to anoth'er'feature of the inventionga-multi- 1 "stage amplifier is-employed of which the time --constants of allthestageS, except'one, are large so 'that no phase shift takes place before about 20 cycles per second, "the said excepted-"stage having a tim'e constant 'Which'produces linear decay with fallingfrequency.

The frequency compensationcan be effected in the feedback amplifier" over the entire frequency mange if the amplifier produces a 'sufiiciently high feedback ratio: "Alternatively, since the v'ariations in "the impedance of the pick-u'p" tube at different light levels mainly aifect the frequency response characteristic at lower frequen cies and has substantially negligible effect at higher frequencies;theautomatic compensation by feedback may only be effective at the lower frequencies, which necessitates only a smaller "feedback ratio" with consequential"simplification Figure 4 shows a circuit arrangement of an amplifier chain for achieving the results of this invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the pick-up tube I, shown as of the image-iconoscope type, has its signal plate output electrode 2 connected to the preamplifier 3 by a circuit comprising a load resistance R, which may be of the order of 1 to 2 megohms. The variable ohmic impedance of the pick-up tube may be indicated by the resistance RI shunted across the load resistance R. Also shunted across the resistance R is the capacitance C which is the sum of the capacities of the pick up tube, wiring and amplifier input capacities, all in shunt. Whilst Figure 1 may not be complete in every particular, it shows the effective resistances and capacities in the circuit coupling the,

pick-up tube and pre-amplifier in a sufiiciently complete manner for the purpose of understanding this invention.

Experiments have shown that the value of R2 depends upon the average illumination of the.

pick-up tube, the influence of the scanning beam, and the influence of ion and electron currents caused by residual gases in the pick-up tube envelope. These variations in R! will influence the time constant of the input circuit to the preamplifier, particularly at low frequencies, thus making it essential continuously to effect the adjustment of the compensating network in the subsequent main amplifier if streaking is to be avoided. It has proved impractical for the operator manually to adjust the compensation control in order to effect the necessary compensation at the varying light levels, and the present invention provides means for automatically effecting this compensation.

This automatic compensation is achieved, in the arrangement to be described, by means of a feedback circuit to the signal plate which, with appropriate value of the feedback ratio, provides effective compensation for any change of the tube resistance RI over a wide range. a

The principle of this feedback arrangement is illustrated in Figure 2. The signal plate 2 is connected to the input of the pre-amplifier 3 having a voltage gain A, the amplifier output voltage a; being arranged to be in anti-phase to the input voltage 6i, for example by constructing the amplifier 3 with an odd number of stages. The load resistance R is connected to the amplifier output and causes a strong voltage feedback. At the amplifier input is the impedance Z constituted by the ohmic impedance R! of the pick-up tube in shunt with the input capacitance C.

The feedback amplifier has a voltage amplification ratio of A Z R The pick-up tube generates current pulses 2' which represent the television signal. The signal voltage (21 equals this current i multiplied by the total output impedance of the signal circuit, that is:

It is assumed that the source impedance is sufficiently high so that the effect of the signal circuit on the current i can be neglected. Experimental evidence has confirmed this assumption.

The output voltage is then given by:

In Equation 1 it is assumed that the amplifier output impedance is small compared with R. It is apparent from Equation 1 that if 1+A is large compared with L 1 pRC where p=iw. Equation 1 then becomes:

1 li- RC in which This result gives an idea of the mode of operation of the feedback compensation principle. It will be apparent that the frequency response of the signal is no longer determined by the time constant T given by the equation RRl -R R 1 but by the smaller time constant T givenby the equation RC T=-- (3) R 1+A 1 im in which RI is of much lower influence. This can also be explained as follows. In a system with high feedback, the amplification is mainly given only by the feedback ratio. This ratio, in the present case, is the potential divider ratio.

The time constant of the input circuit influences this ratio and the signal amplitude in such a manner that these two effects nearly compensate each other.

However, owing to the fact that the feedback decreases with increasingrfrequency, this compensation' is not effective for an 'unlimitedifree' quency range. For practical values of. A, the time constant T will not be negligibleand. somesub= sequent compensation-at theupper end of the frequency'range maybe necessaryi- Howevenin thisupper frequency rangethe reactan'ce' of the capacitance C is numerically much smaller. than Rl and-therefore changes in RI are of no 'im-' portance.

The following estimation will show the values for-A which-are sufficient to obtain the required compensation. Assuming that the load resiste ance R is 2 megohmsand that the tube resistance RI changes from infinity down to about 4 megohms under" normal conditions, the maxi mumwalue forwill be 0.5. It therefore follows from Equations 2 and .3 that if A equals 50, then RI "may double its value'with only one half of one percent change in en. Experiments have confirmed that with A having .a value .of 50 all streaking effects resulting from variations in R! were effectively compensated.

The compensation of streaking effects by the use of feedback to the signal plate is particularlyadvantageous because not only are resistance changes of thepick-up tube due to aver age illumination compensated, but also changes due to any other reason, such as a change of beamcurrent and other second order eifects,will be compensated at thesame time. This. compensation is further automaticallyachieved without it being necessary to know the impedance function of the various parameters.

The loss of amplification in the pre-amplifier involved 'by the introduction I of feedback does not result in a net loss of amplification throughout the entire amplification channel because the application of feedback also effects the necessary differentiation of the signal in order to compensate for the integration which takes place in the amplifier input circuit. Thus the loss of amplification previously occurring in the main amplifier due to the compensation network normally provided is saved, and the advantages of the present invention are achieved without it being necessary to provide additional amplification in the amplification channel as a whole.

If complete compensation is to be achieved in the pre-amplifier, this must have a high voltage gain, for example of approximately 1200. Such high values of amplification in the feedback loop are inconvenient because of difficulties with instability outside the normal frequency range. Because feedback depends on the frequency, these difficulties may be considerably reduced in the lower frequency range by decreasing the amplification A to a lower value, for example to a minimum of about 50, in order fully to effect the streaking compensation for variations of RI whilst effecting compensation for the higher frequencies by means of a manually adjusted compensating network in the main amplifier.

The decision as to which methods of frequency response compensation should be adopted depends on several practical points of view. The complete compensation in the pre-amplifier has the advantage that the signal leaves the camera fully corrected and there is no need for re-adjustment if the pick-up tube is changed, because the feedback is suflicientto eliminate? all toler-" ances.: 1 "On; the. other hand, .the' high value of amplification required'withzthisarrangement has the disadvantage that theamplifier becomesmore complicated; and the mechanical positionwof the feedback resistor becomes critical to avoid the effect of stray capacities: 'These difficulties are reduced by the use of the secondmethod, because-in this case the feedback is. ineffective: in the range of high frequencies- Also therpreamplifier is simpler and smaller, so :that-the second methodris moresuitable in the case of space limitation in the camera. :A disadvantage of the'second methodis the necessary adjustment of the compensating :network in the following main amplifier.

Figured shows "acircuit arrangement of the camera chain-.of a television transmitting appa-a ratus' embodying the second :method; above 'described. x'Ihe camera, indicatedtby the rectangle l0, contains the pick-up tube I and a preamplifier consisting-of a three-stage feedback'amplifier -comprisingthe valves Vi, V2, V3 followed by two balanced output valves V4, V5 feeding; the main amplifierwhichis indicated by .the rectangle ll. The feedback amplifier comprises three resistance-coupled stages, the negative feedbackapath running from the anode-of V3 viathe load resist-anceRl .connectedto thesig nal plate 'of the-pick -uptube; :The resistance R! .is connected to earth through the resistance R2.

No difficulties are experienced-in the? high frequency=region because of the. linear decrease of feedback with frequency, the feedback of the pre-amplifier being. ineffective in the range of highfrequencies where appreciable phase dis tortion may occur. Special care must be taken in the-low frequency range, however,-in order to avoid re-generation. The. decrease of amplification with decreasing frequency must be such that the absolute value of A is smaller than unity when phase distortion is present. This is achieved by the insertion of a small time constant circuit, comprising the condenser C1 and resistance R3, between the anode of the second valve V2 and the grid of the third valve V3, whilst the time constants of all the other circuits are large, being greater than the time constant of Cl R3 by, for example, some 20 times. With this arrangement no phase deviation exceeding can take place so that oscillating at low frequencies is avoided.

The compensation for the higher frequencies is effected in the main amplifier H for example by the time constant circuits Rkck and LaRa in the circuit of one of the valves V6 in the main amplifier.

Whilst particular embodiments have been described, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, for example, instead of compensating for variations of RI by means of a feedback circuit, the automatic control may be achieved by automatically adjusting the time constant of the compensating network in the main amplifier in dependence upon the average illumination of the pick-up tube. This may be achieved by adjusting thetime constant of the compensating network by a control potential derived, for example, from a photocell subjected to the same average light level as the pickup tube, or direct from the photo-electric current in the pick-up tube. This control potential may, for xample, be applied as a biassing potential to a trio'de connected in the compensat ing network so that its impedance is adjusted by the variations of the control potential.

The words compensates, compensating or the like when used herein and in the following claims are not to be read in the limited sense of complete compensation, but are intended to include substantial compensation whereby elimination of "streaking is, in practice, effectively or substantially achieved.

I claim:

1. Television transmitting apparatus comprising a pick-up tube having its output electrode connected to a load resistor, means for feeding the voltage variations across said resistor to'an amplifier, and means for applying the amplifier output to the output electrode of the pick-up tube as a negative feed-back voltage, said feedback amplifier comprising a multi-stage amplifier of which the time constants of all the stages, except one, are large so that no phase shift takes place before about 20 cycles per second, the said excepted stage having a time constant which produces linear decay with falling frequency.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feed-back ratio is of such value that variation of the time constant of the amplifier input circuit resulting from variations of the impedance of the pick-up tube is compensated and a compensating network in a subsequent amplification stage for compensating the frequency response at higher frequencies.

3. A television camera comprising a pick-up tube having its output electrode connected to a load resistor, a multi-stage pre-amplifier to which the voltage variations across said resistor are fed, and a negative'feed-back connection from the output of the amplifier to the output electrode of the pick-up tube, said'load resistor being connected in said feed-back circuit.

4. Television transmitting apparatus comprising a television camera incorporating a pick-up tube and a multi-stage Dre-amplifier, means connecting the output electrode of the pick-up tube to the input ,of said pre-amplifier, a negative feed-back connection between the output of said pre-amplifier and the output electrode of said pick-up tube, a load resistor connected in series in said feed-back connection, a main amplifier, a frequency compensating network in said main amplifier, and means for feeding the output from said pre-amplifier to the, input of said main amplifier.

5. Television transmitting apparatus comprising a television camera incorporating a pick-up tube and a multi-stage pre-amplifier, means connecting the output electrode of the pick-up tube to the input of said pre-amplifier, a negative feed-back connection between the output of said pro-amplifier and the output electrode of said pick-up tube, a load resistor connected in series in said feed-back connection, a resistance connecting the end of said load resistance remote from the output electrode to earth, a main amplifier, a frequency compensating network in said main amplifier, and means for feeding the output from said pre-amplifier to the input of said main amplifier.

JOHN E. COPE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,247,511 Lewis July 1, 1941 2,292,919 Barco Aug. 11, 1942 2,337,234 Eaton Dec. 21, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 857,437 France Sept. 12, 1940 

